Magical Moments
Have you ever wondered how you can speak out?
To hear your voice
whispered under low hums.
To hear your voice
stomp like the beat of a parade’s drum?
Be heard!
Be strong!
Be brave!
Just write,
and make magical moments remain
always.
Can you guess what type of poem I wrote? I wrote a “free verse” poem.
Free Verse poems are wonderful, because they do not have a rhyme, rhythm, or rules to follow. This type of poem can make magical moments stay in our hearts by writing them down. They allow you, the author, to hear your voice on paper. You can use many types of figurative language, such as metaphors and similes. You can write about the things you love most; your parents, siblings, friends, pets, or other things that make you smile. Let us get started.
- 1. Make three lists of things you really like most of all: People, nature, memories. List as many things as possible..
- 2. Now circle three things from each list. Do they have something in common?
- 3. Take the object that seemed to pop up the most. I chose family, Fall, falling leaves. Those three things reminded me of my favorite season with my family. We loved raking up the leaves and jumping onto the piles. Such a special memory.
- 4. Now, describe it. How does it look? What did it sound like? What are your favorite images or memories of it?
- 5. Write down all your feelings about this favorite memory. Make sure your voice surfaces to the top and can be heard.
- 6. If you are younger, just write a four-line free verse poem. If you are older, write as many lines as you want. For example, I chose fall leaves as my favorite thing. I remembered how much I loved to watch them drift to the ground from the tree branches. I pictured their colors as they changed from summer to autumn. I let my voice share on paper what I liked best about the autumn, fall leaves. Read along with mine.
Shades of yellow, more shimmering than the sun.
Shades of orange, bolder as the sun sets.
Long gone is the day of green.
I could not wait.
Just knowing they would
Fall,
Fall,
Fall,
Little leaves of autumn.
Time to move on
To float, to jump
Like feathers from the sky.
Try to write a free verse poem to send to Magic Dragon magazine. Have fun, young authors!
Tip for teachers: I tried my Write It lesson with my fourth graders. What helped my students with free verse was to have a structure in mind, for example, each stanza has four lines. This is especially helpful with the younger children. The older children will enjoy being creative with their poetic structure.